Fluorescent probe molecules have been widely used in bioimaging and medicinal applications for several decades due to their high sensitivity and easy visibility. During the past few decades, a number of small molecule fluorescent chemosensors have been developed for use in biological analyses, which typically are elaborately designed to selectively detect a target substance or phenomenon.
Most fluorescent chemosensors employ increase or decrease in their emission intensity as a sensing signal in response to the surrounding medium or through specific molecular recognition events. Due to their simplicity and high sensitivity, fluorescent sensors have been widely utilized as popular tools in chemical, biological, and medical applications.
The conventional bioprobe design is based upon a hypothesis-driven approach. The conventional bioprobe usually consists of three parts: a target recognition motif, a linker and a fluorophore. The target recognition motif is designed based on the identity and structure of the target, and then is paired with any number of fluorophores to generate a bioprobe that will efficiently and selectively allow visualization or staining of a target. The basic assumption of this hypothesis-driven approach is that the scientist knows the target in advance, and then designs the recognition motif tailored specifically for the target. Therefore, the scope of bioprobe development is intrinsically limited by the available knowledge for the target. An alternative to this process is combinatorial dye library synthesis, which enables a scientist to arrive at a library of diversity directed sensors.
There remains a need to develop a library of fluorescent sensors that may be used in crucial biomedical applications, such as the selective imaging of pancreatic islets or microglia cells.